During my recent trip to Uttarakhand , I was faced with a problem I had never encountered before. We were passing through Delhi, but we had hardly any time in the city. On earlier visits when I have had to change trains/flights at Delhi, I have always arrived in the morning and left again at night, visiting relatives in between. This time, I was arriving in the city at night, and leaving again early in the morning. There was hardly any time to visit people. I would only have a couple of hours with them before I’d have to leave again. For the first time, we considered booking a hotel, but there again, we were hesitant about the actual hotels, the costs involved, and the logistics of getting from the airport to the railway station and then back again from the station to the airport. That’s when we remembered reading something about a corporate-managed lounge at Delhi station. We soon figured out that we could book online and pay by the hour. Besides, we also learnt that there wasn’t ju
Sitting in our room at Mashobra, every morning, around 10,
we could hear the distant sounds of a band. The day we went on a trek, we
learnt that the sound came from the Government school at Mashobra.
A couple of days later, I was sitting by the window, basking
in the heat of the sun, watching the play of shadows on the mountains, when I
glimpsed some activity below....
A group of girls were standing in rows, and soon, I realized what it was all about – they were practicing their march past!
As, over the next hour or so, I watched the children
practice....
I was reminded of the time I was part of one of these
groups... years back, in school.... Except, none of our teachers ever had a
stick in their hand!
I just hope he did not use the stick for any punishment!
Last week, as I watched my son marching as part of their
sports day events, I wondered about these kids... what were they practicing
for? School in Shimla shuts down for the winter. They couldn’t possibly have
any sports events in such weather... Maybe they were practicing for Republic
Day? Wouldn’t they have their holidays though? Maybe the kids were called to
school during the vacation for the Republic Day ceremony!!
That set me off on a whole new train of thought. Today, as
we celebrate Republic Day, the day our constitution came into effect, most of
us are at home, enjoying a holiday. There was a time when I used to wake up
early and stay glued to the TV watching the Republic Day Parade, wishing I
could be there, but today, I have a hard time even convincing Samhith to watch
the parade. And it’s not just me. I can hardly see anyone else watching it
either! Many of the kids I know would much rather stay home than go to school
and hear a bunch of talks on freedom fighters they don’t even relate to. No
matter how many stories they hear, how many books they read, their struggles
don’t seem to inspire the admiration I felt at the same age. And it saddens me.
I would so like Samhith to appreciate the fact that we owe our independence to
so many freedom fighters, that our constitution is such a beautiful piece of
work, giving us the right to live our life the way we want to, but above all,
be able to march past, and proudly salute our National Flag, not as a chore,
not as an event, but with pride in his country! Is it too much to wish for?
What do you do to instill patriotism in your kids?
Hey, I watched the Republic Parade!!!
ReplyDeleteMay be it is not the children's fault that they lack the inspiration. We need to change our way of inspiring! Bring in innovation and make best use of available technologies and moreover talk to them in their language to relate to them! Hopefully one day we will be successful!
Kanthi
I surely hope so, Kanthi... good to hear u watched the parade.. i couldnt :( and do you realize that this is the longest comment u have ever left on my blog? and also the most prompt?
DeleteHappy Republic Day!!!
ReplyDeleteAustralians celebrate 26th January with us!
http://renuka-mytraveldiary.blogspot.in/2013/01/india-and-australia-celebrate-together.html
THanks so much, Renuka... that was interesting. I wasnt even aware of Australia day!
Deletethose views on the first pic... you're so lucky there!
ReplyDeleteThanks Daniel!
DeleteSimply exquisite, that gorgeous ... fantastic! Good landscape!
ReplyDeleteThanks Leovi!
DeleteLoved the way you captured the girls practising. Maybe they were practising for some annual day function of the school or for some local festival?
ReplyDelete